Handmade + Homemade Goods

Pound Cake

You know how a taste or smell can illicit such deep meaning and memories? Well that is what pound cake does for me. Not just any old pound cake though. The kind with just a hint of lemon and a crust that has a bit of a crunch. When I am feeling nostalgic, that is what I crave. It was the only thing my grandmother ever baked, so whenever my family would go and visit, I knew I could always count on getting a thick slice of pound cake. Then of course I would try to eat it in the living room and I would get yelled at for getting crumbs everywhere. I can assure you, I ate every last crumb.

The other day, I got one of those cravings that can only be solved by something sweet so I decided that it was a perfect day for pound cake. It may come as a huge shock, but I actually don’t use my grandmother’s recipe. My mom found one that is pretty similar and that is what I typically make. There are a couple more big things that happened when I made pound cake this time. The first is I used a mixer. I know this might not seem like a big deal, but it is for me. I shelled out the money to buy a nice one, and then felt like I was cheating when I used it. To me, it wasn’t baking unless I had the nice burn in my shoulder from creaming butter.

My husband has been on my case about using it more, so I figured this was a good excuse to use it. The last nostalgic moment was right before I poured the batter into the pans to bake. When I was growing up and my mom would used her old-school mixer, my brother and I would fight over who got to lick the beaters….which looking back is silly because there were two of them and two of us so we would always have one. Never the less, when I looked down at my beater covered in thick and silky batter, I was so excited that I didn’t have to share!

Linda's Lemony Prairie Cake

Ingredients

1 1/2 cups butter

3 cups sugar

5 eggs

3 cups all-purpose flour

3/4 cup lemon-lime carbonated beverage

1 1oz bottle of lemon extract

Directions

Grease and lightly flour a 10-inch fluted tube pan ( I used two loaf pans, I like the extra crust). Set aside. In a large mixing bowl, beat butter and sugar together till light and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.

Beat in flour, one cup at a time. Beat in lemon-lime carbonated beverage and lemon extract. Pour into prepared pan.

Bake at 350°F oven for 60-65 minutes or until a wooden toothpick inserted near the center comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack for 10 minutes. Loosen sides of cake and remove from pan. Cool on wire rack.